D:hive celebrates one year growing Detroit

D:hive is celebrating its first year anniversary this month and is making plans to continue helping connect more people with jobs, entrepreneurial resources, housing and the City of Detroit itself.

D:hive was created in early 2012 as a hub for people who want to learn more about Detroit and stake a claim in the Motor City. It merged with Inside Detroit, the downtown-based tourism nonprofit, in May of last year. Since the merger D:hive has opened a welcome center, launched a jobs portal, opened its entrepreneur education BUILD program, and continued Inside Detroit's tours of the city. In that time it has taken 7,500 people on tours, graduated more than 100 people from BUILD and helped connect 1,000 job seekers with 500 companies in its network.

"We have been doing a pretty good job of connecting supply and demand in the city," says Jeff Aronoff, executive director of D:hive.

He adds that D:hive plans to drill down more in the employment connections to go beyond just connecting people with jobs. The idea is to make quality connections that serve both parties for years. D:hive is also working on a pilot program that will help educate aspiring retailers so they get access to as many resources as technology entrepreneurs.

D:hive currently employs 13 people. Aronoff expects that number to remain stable even as the nonprofit continues to expand its service offerings.

"Our staff will fluctuate a little bit but it will always be 10-15 people," Aronoff says.